


The Kids Are Alright

by Addelaide



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Howard's A+ Parenting, Odin's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:33:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Addelaide/pseuds/Addelaide
Summary: Steve is still experimented on, Bucky still loses his arm, awful parents are still awful, the only difference is they find each other earlier. The Avengers as non-avenging college students or college age learning to lean on each other and heal. Also, Jane & Darcy are sisters (Darcy is a stowaway who regularly crashes her sisters college classes).
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Betty Ross, Christine Everhart/Tony Stark, Darcy Lewis/Sam Wilson, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster/Thor, Loki/Other(s), Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Riley/Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes & Peggy Carter, Tony Stark/Other(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. 1-1

Sam loses Riley on a Friday. He thinks he knows what death is, what loss is. Had brushed his father off on more than one occasion as the pastor tried to ‘talk some sense’ into him, tried to make him understand. Up in the air, wings stretched out wide to buoy him up and away from where he knew but could no longer see the outline of his best friend, all he can hear is his father’s words. 

_When you’re young you’re invincible, you’re supposed to be. But you haven’t got the job Samuel. You keep running headlong into danger and God’s gonna show you a thing or two about loss, about sacrifice._

Sam thinks, once he’s home and the ink has dried on his discharge papers, that if God had wanted to teach him a lesson he could have knocked him outta the sky. He thinks Riley’s life was too high a price, too difficult a burden. He thinks he’d done enough, Riley had done enough to earn them favor, and if it wasn’t, well then God could very well kiss his ass. 

He cannot walk into a church after that. It doesn’t feel like home, like peace. He thinks his father, at least, will understand. 


	2. 1-2

Bucky leaves for his second tour on a Thursday, and Steve starts college the following Monday. He’d gotten accepted into the art program like Bucky and Peggy had said he would. Peggy, who was off doing god knows what god knew where, no doubt accruing more battle scars to go along with stories both Steve and Bucky were sure had to be as classified as her life. They had told her as much too, but Peggy had laughed and asked ‘who else is there’. They’d dropped the subject after that because she was right.

Steve had followed Bucky into the army where they’d met Peg to begin with, and had only gotten out after many arguments, close calls, and general grousing on Peggy and Bucky’s parts. They’d all seen far too much. At least, though, Peggy and Bucky could breathe easier knowing Steve was doing something “better” with his life.

Steve had to admit art school was fun. At twenty-seven he was the oldest student, but he didn’t look it, so most of the other students interacted with him the same. He got a job working at a bookstore near campus, though he didn’t need the money -- the army was paying for everything, and Bucky sent him money and care packages he went half in for with Peggy every chance he got even though Steve had told them both not to, arguing that he was the one who was supposed to be sending the care packages. It gave him something to do, and the owner, Mr. Tims, had been looking to come in less and so let Steve run it mostly on his own once he realized he was competent and a good judge when it came to hiring.

That’s how he meets Tony Stark.


	3. 1-3

“Get out.” 

“Howard is that really…” 

“Get out. You want to be an adult so bad, then go ahead.” 

Tony doesn’t spare a glance at his mother. They’ve been here before. Not the getting kicked out part, that’s new. But the arguments, the yelling, the threats. She won’t come to his rescue, won’t even look at him. Once upon a time Tony thought that this part was better than being ignored, forgotten. Had spent countless hours in the hands of whatever corporation, terrorist group, or two bit thug wanted to get at his dad that week, hoping this time his parents would notice him, would fight to get him back. It never happened. He acted out, got kicked out of school, did drugs, drank, snuck out, did whatever he could to get them to notice him. Any attention was good attention.

Now, though, he realized both felt the same. They were both equally shitty in the web of his shit life as the son of the wealthiest man in the world. 

He walked out the door. There was nothing he needed to take. It was a testament to the brokenness of his family that he’d gone through the process of setting up another life without the help of his parents, their money, or their company. A life not even Obie, all knowing and with infinite resources and favors at his beck and call, could touch. 

He leaves and doesn’t look back. 

Tony finds himself in a small college town, by necessity rather than choice. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, one of the few friends Tony made for himself that’s real, told him about it. Said “you need a place to lay low and it’s too quiet for anybody to look for you there, and I’ll be there to keep an eye on you” and Tony had jumped at the chance to be close. There was also Pepper. Virginia Potts, a buttoned up bombshell of a woman, who spent half of her time verbally disassembling everything Christine Everhart said in class and the other half politely rebuffing Tony’s advances. Tony has only been moved into the new apartment he shares with Rhodey for a week before he meets Pepper and he’s already in love. Crashing her courses and watching her and Christine go at it is just icing on the cake. 

Tony had already graduated college, though he still went to the parties -- because who was he to turn down free alcohol, pretty girls, and even prettier guys -- but most of the time he spent his time holed up in the apartment building things, and Rhodey left him to his own devices. Unless he blew something up, or drank too much, or blew something up because he drank too much. When that happened, which was a lot more often then Tony was willing to admit, Rhodey would follow him around giving him severe looks while making pointed comments and not at all subtle comments about unhealthy coping mechanisms and the local AA meetings. 

It was after one such incident -- Tony will claim to his dying day that the entire thing hadn’t really been his fault, and even if it had been, the result was a resounding success (Rhodey, and Pepper who Rhodey had enlisted to the ‘help corral Tony committee, would not agree) -- that Tony had been dragged bodily from the apartment on the premise of finding him something to do other than trying to put Rhodey into an early grave by building robots more terrible than he himself already was. That the excursion had ended in a job he didn’t want, at a rinky dink bookstore he absolutely hated on principle, had been equal parts infuriating and amusing. 

Infuriating because he didn’t need or want the job. He wouldn’t bet on ever getting his inheritance now that he had been effectively kicked out, but he was a Stark without it. Had been making his own money for years now without his father or Obie lifting so much as a finger to help. Not that they would, anyway. Amusing because he’d expected worse. Pepper had gotten that look in her eye thatTony had come to know and fear, and Rhodey had been surprisingly and scarily quiet, so he figured he’d been in for something a lot more in the way of therapy and feelings. If he was being honest, working at Tim’s old and rare books didn’t even touch the list of the worst things he had been forced to do. Plus, there was Steve. 


	4. 1-4

The bell signalling a customer goes off and Steve fights a shiver of nostalgia and grief. It’s not the same, but the bell is still far too similar to the one that had wrung when he was little and walking with his mom to church. The great big gold thing that had then felt like some ancient being looking down on them, a reminder and a protector. Steve hasn’t felt that safety in a long time. Some days, when he’s come up from one of a thousand shadows haunting his sleep unable to move or to blink as the cold grip of things he’d rather not remember seeped into his skin, he thinks God has left him. He thinks that whatever guardian angel or angels might have been watching over him have fled or been pulled away to guard someone more deserving. On the worst days, he thinks there’s nothing for him in life or in death but torment and decay. The cross he wears next to his dog tags doesn’t help. Going to church doesn’t help. And he can’t bring himself to go to confession because a part of him suspects that his sins will be far too great for even the holiest of men. 

He knows what Bucky would say, hell, he knows what Peggy would say, but the echo of their soft words and harsh admonishments can’t pierce the veil of his mind. Mercy doesn’t live there. 

The bell goes off and Steve shakes himself and looks up with a smile on his face ready to welcome a customer and immediately goes rigid. There is a woman, very pretty and maybe a few years younger than him, with rigid shoulders and a glare forcing its way past her very fake smile. On the other side of her is a man whose entire demeanor screams military, and he isn’t even trying to pretend he’s not pissed. Then there’s the guy in between them. He’s shorter than them both, dressed far more like a college student then his friends even though he looks to be at least a few years older than the woman, wearing a band t-shirt Steve sort of recognizes, black splotches that might be motor oil or soot (Steve is really hoping for the former), and a mutinous expression. 

When they get closer Steve smells smoke, and he tenses all the more, taking an involuntary step back from his desk and them. 

“How can I help you?” The words are out, and he’s mentally applauding himself for the way his customer service voice doesn’t even wobble despite the fact that all he can hear is white noise, almost like being on a rollercoaster that’s slipped the rails. 

The man, the hard edges to his expression melting away to be replaced by concern, steps forward, blocking Steve’s view of his annoyed counterpart even as his hand comes up to stop both the woman and the other man from coming any closer to Steve’s desk. 

“You need a minute soldier?”  
Steve shakes himself for the second time that morning and tries to loosen his stance. He tries to remind himself that there’s no danger, not yet, anyway. It works, sort of, and he ignores the question, choosing instead to repeat himself. 

“How can I help you?” 

The lady speaks this time, though she doesn’t move any closer to him. Her hand, at some point, has migrated to band t-shirts arm and is holding him in a white knuckled grip. 

“Hi I’m Pepper, and,” she points to the taller of the men, “this is James, and this is Tony. We saw your sign…” 

Apparently deciding that he’s had enough of playing kid brother to his friends, Tony shakes them off and steps forward with a glint in his eye. 

“Okay, I’m not sure what these two have planned for my very near future, but how ‘bout we head them off and you let me take you somewhere nice. Your pick. Dinner, a movie, then maybe I take you back to my place…” 

“Tony!” 

“What place?! You nearly blew a hole through our ceiling. You’re lucky I didn’t stuff you in the closet until Spring Semester.” 

The whole interaction has him relaxing instantly, the smell of smoke still lingering but not all consuming. And Steve can’t help but laugh, smiling when the three students, they’re definitely all students, regard him with confusion and what might be amusement. 

“Uh, I’m gonna have to pass on that offer Tony, but if a jobs what you’re lookin for, I’d be more than happy to get you an application.” 

“Get me an application? Aren’t all apps online nowadays sweetheart?”

“Well Mr. Tim’s, the owner, isn’t much for computer’s, and while we’ve started the move over to paperless it’s a slow process, and some things are just better not left up to electronic filing systems. Also, my name’s Steve.” 

Tony looks stricken at the information and Steve is charmed despite himself. He just knows that as soon as Bucky and Peggy find out about this strange little man they’re gonna love him. 

“The hell kinda place are you running? Give me the application, you need me. I’ll bring this whole place into the new century if it kills me, you won’t even need people. Totally robot run.” 

“Absolutely not.” 

Tony doesn’t hear him, he’s already turned back toward the door and moving quickly, muttering to himself and making plans Steve is most definitely not allowing him to implement. But he gives Pepper an application and smiles at James “ _ Call me Rhode _ y” and waves them back out the door. 

Rhodey returns Tony’s application fully filled out the following day along with his and Pepper’s numbers and a brief warning that Tony’s a handful and that Steve shouldn’t hesitate to call for reinforcements. Steve waves him off, tells him that once upon a time he’d been a handful himself, still was sometimes if his friends were to be believed. He plugs the numbers in his cell anyway. Tony starts work the following Monday, and shows up three hours earlier than he was scheduled because apparently Steve was wrong and he’s not actually a student. He’s young, and Steve points this out and listens for five minutes as Tony explains absolutely nothing and then goes off on a tangent about AI. 

It’s just as well because the girl that had started at the bookstore at the same time as Steve, Mell with two l’s, quits due to boy related stress. Apparently she sort of liked a boy and he totally liked her, but she wasn’t sure so put him on hold so she could think about it, and her best friend, Lanie with an i (because her mom wanted her to be unique or something), totally knew that and she didn’t even really like Jim (the boy’s name, Steve thinks), thought he was a total loser, and Mell had finally made a decision and had told Lanie that she was gonna ask Jim out and Lanie decided to ask Jim out first, because (verbatim: “ _ well there’s gotta be something about him if you had to spend three weeks deciding if you wanted to date him, so I figured I wanna find out what. And look at it this way, if he’s a total dud you didn’t waste your time, and if he’s not, well...you should be happy for me because I’m your best friend, and if you’re not well, that makes you a bad friend. There’s other guy’s you can date.” _ ) 

Steve had a headache building behind his eyes by the end of the entire explanation and though it couldn’t mean anything but trouble, he didn’t even try to find out or stop whatever Tony was planning in regards to Mell with two l’s and her relationship problems. He just watched the boy throw one stained arm around Mell’s shoulders and walk her out the door as she sniffled and he whispered. 

After that, the day passed by with less fanfare. Steve found that if he indulged Tony every once in a while the other boy was more inclined to do his job which started off as stocker and backup cashier, but over the following weeks, quickly spiralled into something else entirely. All he knew was that one day he looked up and Tony had updated the computers, and set up a hacker space in between the music section and the cd display. Steve, sensing more changes had run it by Mr. Tims who’d muttered and but said very little else until a two weeks later when he’d called Steve in before his first class to talk about an expansion. The bookstore was the only store on it’s corner and while many businesses had tried to set up shop, hoping to reap the benefits of the bookstores success or outright steal it’s customers, none of them had lasted long. 

So, there was space, and Mr. Tims had the money and since Tony was hell bent on making them modern (Mr. Tims words) he figured they might as well give him the space. 

The expansion started almost immediately with Tony looking on gleefully while Pepper and Rhodey took turns shooting down his more ridiculous plans and helping to buff out the edges of the ones they could implement. And Steve made a new sign, this one bigger and flashier. Tony hated it, but that’s how they got Jane and Darcy. 


	5. 1-5

Darcy drags her sister through campus and out on the main street, dark curly hair flopping in the wind and slapping Jane in the face every other breath. Though, it doesn’t deter the older girl in her quest to change Darcy’s mind. 

They’re headed for the bookstore, Darcy’s current big idea for getting Jane out of her dorm room, and the fact that they’d be getting paid was just a bonus. Darcy was already planning what she was going to do with whatever free cash she had left over after they squirreled the rest away for just in case, bills, and groceries. Jane was still trying to convince her that they were living fine with what they had -- the extras from her grant and the scholarships -- but despite Darcy’s bitching, she was actually looking forward to graduating high school and being Jane’s roommate forreal, instead of a stowaway. Gina didn’t seem to mind since she spent the majority of her time at her boyfriend’s apartment anyway. 

This was a good plan. A solid plan. Jane would have some place to go that wasn’t a lab or a lecture, and Darcy would have money for the bus and coffee from the Starbucks a town over. Now, if Darcy could just get her to their destination before Jane got mean and started fighting dirty, everything would be great. 

It almost worked too, until they almost got bowled over by a fierce looking waify boy with prettier hair than Darcy and the sad blue eyes that Darcy sort of recognized. The surprise of the boy was enough for Jane to pull away from Darcy’s grip and try to make a break for it, and they were off. Jane attempted to dart across the street while Darcy lunged forward to wrap both her hands around Jane’s arms to yank her back until they were wrestling on the ground. 

“Oh my god Darcy let go, this is ridiculous.” 

“No. This’ll be good for you.” 

“No it won’t.” 

“Yes it will.” 

The girls rolled around on the sidewalk, heedless of anybody that might be around to see them fighting, until a large shadow settled over them. Feet shuffled just out of range until a man coughed and spoke up. 

“Uh, do you two need assistance?”

Darcy risked a glance to the side and saw a big, blonde man standing over them, and already had someone else over his other shoulder. Darcy recognized the boy immediately. It was the same boy who’d almost knocked into them, and now that Darcy could see him better, she most definitely knew him. The boy looked sullen and aggravated but otherwise unharmed, and lay mostly in the large man’s neck. Darcy made a decision, and apparently Jane did too. Darcy was suddenly knocked backwards, legs flying up and almost sending her over in a very ungraceful tumble, no doubt with a Jane sized fist print blooming on her face. 

“Damn it Jane! Grab her!” 

“I do not think that would be wise.” 

“Don’t you dare.” 

Darcy lunged for Jane’s ankles even as the other girl jumped up and tried to move out of the way, and then Jane was being hauled up and over the man’s shoulder which neither of them seemed particularly happy about. 

“I apologize, I did not wish to watch you or your sister get hurt,” the man said looking sullen as the boy still tethered to his right shoulder snorted.

“Oh my god Darcy, get me down.” 

“If you had just listened to me none of this would be happening. But no, you just had to go and do things your way. We are getting jobs Jane, it’s not the end of the world. It’s at a bookstore for christ sakes.” 

Jane craned her head around as much as she could from where she was perched and glared. Darcy ignored her, choosing instead to fix her glasses, straighten her t-shirt, and check to make sure her taser was intact where it sat snuggly in her messenger bag, before she looked up again. 

“Hi, I’m Darcy. The girl over your shoulder is Jane, my sister, and we are all gonna walk to the bookstore where you will deposit her angry, but unharmed. Any funny business and I’ll be forced to taze you.” 

She waved the taser at the large blonde for effect. He nodded, his expression grave but serious as he did an about face and started in the direction Darcy and Jane had been going before the kerfuffle. As they walked he spoke to her over his shoulder. 

“As you wish, Darcy. I am Thor, and this little hellion is my brother Loki. I think you’ve met.” 

Loki barely lifted his head, waving vaguely at her before stuffing his face even more forcefully into Thor’s neck. 

“He usually has better manners.” 

Eh, it’s fine. Jane never has any manners.” 

“I’ll show you manners.” 

Darcy made a rude gesture at Jane as the other girl harrumphed and stuck her tongue out, leaning her head in her hands where she lay digging her elbows into Thor’s shoulder. It didn’t seem to faze him the way Jane had probably hoped it would. 

They walked mostly in silence the rest of the way to the bookstore, with Thor patting his brother on the back absentmindedly, Loki huffing and puffing, and Jane muttering more colorful curses by the minute. They must have made quite a picture when they finally made it to the bookstore and walked in. Thor set Jane down on the floor in front of him, like he’d promised he would, blocking her from making another attempt to flee. Whether it was on purpose, Darcy didn’t know, Thor was just that big that Jane would have to tackle him to get out the door. 

“Can I help you all?” A man Darcy recognized from an English class she’d crashed out of boredom, stood at the front desk, smiling through his confusion. Darcy stepped forward, throwing a glare at Jane so she knew that Darcy had no problem going at it again if need be. 

“Yes, I’m Darcy and this is my sister Jane, and our friends Thor and Loki. We saw you were hiring.” 

“I don’t need a job Darcy.” 

“Hm, you know a job might be good for us both.” 

“What is the meaning of this? Unhand me, I did not agree to getting a job.” 

“I mean, we could always go back home. Dad did say he could use help at the company.” 

“You miserable, conniving…” 

Darcy turned to Thor and Loki. She didn’t really know if they needed jobs, but misery loves company and all that, and raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. Loki looked between her and Thor and threw up his hands, his face a mirror of Jane’s at the realization that he was outnumbered and outmaneuvered, and Darcy turned back to the man at the desk. He was looking at them with something like resignation. 

“We’d like four applications please.” 

  
  



End file.
